15 May : In The Wake Of Poseidon

In the Wake of Poseidon, released 50 years ago today, is an album I’ve hard a hard time getting into over the years and I was keen to have another listen for this project. I think the first track I heard from it that caught my attention, when someone at school (I think) loaned me A Young Person’s Guide to Crimson, was Cadence and Cascade. More recently, Pictures of a City has been a regular part of their live set.

Poseidon was their second album after the triumph that was In The Court of the Crimson King in 1969. That original band had fallen apart. Greg Lake was off to join up with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer (though he sings on most of the tracks on this); Ian MacDonald and Michael Giles were off too, unnerved by the experience of touring America. Amongst others, Mel Collins and Keith Tippett joined for this album.

I still haven’t made my mind up about it which, after half a century, says something about it I guess. There are a lot of things to like, notably every time Keith Tippett touches a keyboard, but I don’t feel drawn to it in the way I was to Crimson King or, not long afterwards, Larks Tongues in Aspic.

If Crimson King rode the waves out of the sixties, Poseidon feels somehow becalmed on the cusp of the seventies, looking for a direction.

I guess that’s inevitable given the turbulent history of the band, but it’s audible, although that could be hindsight because I know what was to come. The title track is much too reminiscent of Epitaph on Crimson King–not just the washes of mellotron but the structure and tune too. Devil’s Triangle seems to meander without getting anywhere interesting.

Of course, there’s some great playing and material. One or more of Pictures of a City, Cadence and Cascade and especially Cat Food would go on any compilation I made, and at least one of them will go on the 1970 Spotify playlist I eventually put together. If I owned a copy of Poseidon, which I don’t, it would get played, just not as often as some of their other stuff, which is better.

I listened on Spotify and you can find it also as an official YouTube playlist.